Read Jodi Thomas - WM 1 Online
Authors: Texas Rain
Jodi Thomas - WM 1 (29 page)
“First lets get the facts right,” Travis began. “What were you doing at the time you ran into Ranger Dillon?”
Mrs. Davis straightened as if she were under oath. “Stealing two bottles of wine.”
Rainey laughed. “Tell the truth, Dottie. You were only stealing one bottle. I had the other one in my hand.”
“Yes, that is right, dear, but you were only holding it until I climbed out of the cellar. So, Mr. McMurray, you need to explain to your friends that they should let Rainey go immediately.”
Travis frowned. This wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought. He leaned back against the bars. Duck crawled up in his lap and put his head on Travis’s shoulder. The tiny boy fell asleep with Travis patting his back.
“Do you want me to hold him?” Dottie asked.
Travis passed the boy slowly to the widow. She cradled him and begin to hum making Travis wonder how women instinctively knew how to do that. She seemed to have forgotten all her problems as she rocked the boy in her arms.
Travis stood and joined Rainey by the window. He raised his hand to the bars a few inches from her head, but made no attempt to touch her. “Were you planning to meet me before this happened?” Travis had no idea why it was important for him to know.
“Yes,” she answered. “I needed to tell you that I think Snort and Whiny were only talking. For some reason planning a man’s death seems to be their favorite break conversation. I’ve listened several more nights since I wrote the letter to you and they haven’t progressed in their plot.”
He relaxed, moving closer so that their conversation became private. “When I saw them last night, I almost laughed out loud. They were exactly as you described them.”
Rainey turned from the window and looked up at him. “I’ve never really seen them clearly. Mostly they’re just shadows below. What do they look like?”
He shrugged. “Snort isn’t that old, maybe thirty, but her face is lined and tired. The one you call Whiny is thin, bony really, with breasts that look like puppy dog ears.”
Rainey’s eyes narrowed. “And how do you know that?”
Smiling, he admitted, “We had a few drinks and the strap on her dress slipped. I saw more than I wish I had.” He laughed. “Believe me.”
To his surprise, Rainey blushed. She held her head high as she asked, “And do you see quite a lot of women’s chests in your line of work?”
Brushing his finger over her warm cheek, he whispered, “I don’t think we should be talking about this. I shouldn’t have said anything.” In fact, if anyone would have asked him if he’d ever talk to a young woman and use the word
breast,
he would have denied it. But, in a funny way, he and Rainey were close friends. Two currents ran between them. One of attraction he’d felt from that first night at the barn dance, and one of friendship that had grown in the letters and in conversations he’d had with her in his mind. He had the feeling she’d known the same kind of conversations.
breast,
he would have denied it. But, in a funny way, he and Rainey were close friends. Two currents ran between them. One of attraction he’d felt from that first night at the barn dance, and one of friendship that had grown in the letters and in conversations he’d had with her in his mind. He had the feeling she’d known the same kind of conversations.
He wondered what she would say if he told her that he’d never forget the way her breasts felt, firm and round. Just the right size to fill his hand. He brushed his fingers across her hand.
She moved away from his touch. “Can you help us get out of here, Travis? Dottie took the wine for a good cause, and it truly did belong to her late husband.”
“If I get you out of here, will you have dinner with me?”
Her green eyes stared directly at him. Poker eyes, he thought, for he couldn’t read them at all. “Will you help us no matter what my answer?”
He nodded. How could he refuse?
“Then I will have dinner with you if I’m free tonight, but you have to stop telling people you plan to marry me. I can’t marry you. I made a promise to myself when I left home. I want to know what it’s like to be free, truly free of a controlling parent or a husband.” He caught a glimpse of unshed tears before she lowered her gaze. “We can be friends, Mr. McMurray. That’s the most I can promise.”
He fought the urge to hold her. Suddenly he was back to being Mister. “Friends is a good start.” Travis offered his hand. “I’ll see what I can do to get you both out. It’s not exactly like you’re a criminal and have stolen before.” He frowned and ignored his own words.
After checking that Duck was sound asleep, he slipped from the cell and disappeared. There was only one place to turn on a Sunday afternoon for justice.
Ten minutes later he was back with a stocky little man in a wrinkled suit by his side.
When Mike let them both in the cell, Travis introduced the man as Judge Gates.
The judge sat down beside the widow and said in a calm voice. “Now tell me all your story, madam. If Ranger McMurray thinks this problem is important enough to disturb my Sunday nap, I plan to give it my full attention.”
Travis listened as the widow told her sad story of helping her husband as he built a restaurant in one half the building while his partner built the saloon in the other half. “He sent all the way to New Orleans for the best wine, but when he died, the partner claimed all the liquor belonged to the saloon.”
Dottie Davis looked quite beautiful, Travis thought, as she wiped her tears on the judge’s handkerchief. “I have no way of proving it, Judge, but anyone who knows wine would know that the bottles packed in straw in the cellar are not meant to be served in a saloon.”
Travis wasn’t surprised when the judge ordered the women released and asked that they appear in his office Monday to solve the problem. He patted the widow’s hand and told her that he felt sure this had all been a misunderstanding and her husband’s former partner would see it that way once in the judge’s office.
They drank coffee and visited until Dillon returned. Travis watched Rainey, who had very little to say. In fact most of the time she stared out the window as if wishing she were a million miles away.
When Dillon signed their release papers, the judge offered Dottie a ride home in his carriage.
Travis reminded Rainey of their dinner as they stepped outside in the cool afternoon air.
She said her goodbye to the widow and declined the judge’s offer for a ride home. The older couple drove off.
Travis shifted Duck to his other shoulder so he could use his cane while they walked back to the same café he felt like he’d eaten half his meals at while in Austin. Most of the tables were empty, too late for lunch, too early for dinner, he thought. Duck stretched out on the bench by the window and slept while Rainey and he ordered and ate.
They’d ordered coffee and dessert when the boy woke and crawled up into Travis’s lap. As always, he hugged Duck tightly, letting him know he was safe.
“You do that so well,” Rainey commented.
“What?”
“Hug him.”
Travis shrugged. “When our folks died my sister was a baby. Seems like for the first five years of her life she wanted to go everywhere with us. Martha used to complain that Sage would never learn to walk because one of us was always carrying her. I guess I got used to a little one on my shoulder.”
Rainey smiled. “What I meant was that you give him a real, honest hug. I see it in the way he relaxes. You make him feel secure. It’s the kind of hug every child needs now and then.”
“The kind you miss now you’re here without your parents?” He saw an opportunity to learn more about her. He doubted the story Mrs. Vivian had told him, about Rainey’s parents being dead, was true.
“No,” she answered. “I never had that kind of hug, so it wouldn’t matter if my parents were here or not. In truth, I never remember either of them ever touching me except to discipline me.” Her smile was somehow sad. “I guess they weren’t the hugging kind.”
He watched her. She hadn’t told him where her parents were, or how long she’d been separated from them, or even why, but Rainey had just told him a great deal about herself.
They walked home with him telling her about the capital and where Sage and he stayed. He kept hoping she’d share something about herself, but she remind quiet.
“I’ve heard of the Bailey residence. Someone said that she doesn’t see her guests as boarders, but as family. Family that pay, of course.”
Travis laughed. “That’s about right. The other day I was working late, and she tapped on my door and offered me milk and cookies.”
When she didn’t comment, he added, “When I’m in Austin, I sometimes bunk in the cell you stayed in for the night, but with Sage on her first trip, I wanted it to be something special.”
“She’s never been to Austin?”
He shook his head. “Teagen and Tobin would keep her on the ranch forever if they could. While she was going to school at Mrs. Dickerson’s, she seemed happy, but the brothers say she’s been restless since last year, when she graduated from all eleven grades. A woman with that much education can’t be kept on the property for long. Lucky I had to be in Austin or she might have come on her own.”
“One of you wouldn’t have stopped her?”
He shook his head. “We’d have tried to talk her out of it, but she’s a woman with her own mind.”
Rainey nodded slowly and they walked in silence for a while. Finally she asked casually, “Why did you come to Austin? And don’t say to find me. I know that can’t be the truth.”
He wanted to say that finding her had been the exact reason, but he figured that would probably frighten her, so he said the reason he’d told everyone. “I came to take a test I’ve wanted to take for several years. Judge Gates has been giving me law books to read. I’ve packed them in my bags for hundreds of miles, and finally a few of the facts have begun to sink in. I think I’d like to try my hand at being a lawyer.”
“And give up being a Ranger?”
“I don’t think I’ve thought that far ahead. Passing the bar seems like enough of a dream right now. But I see folks robbed on paper now and then as sure as if someone held a gun to their back. It’s frustrating when the law can’t help them. Judge Gates and I have been friends for years. He says the courts could use a fighter like me.” He lifted his cane and frowned. “Maybe he’s right.”
They strolled in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Duck reached out for dried leaves as they passed a tree growing near the walk. He laughed when they fell on Travis’s head.
Rainey laughed as Travis complained and pulled dead leaves from his hair.
Halfway to her boardinghouse, Rainey tucked her hand beneath his elbow. He wasn’t sure she wanted to be close, or if she was simply making sure he didn’t fall.
At the front steps she thanked him and said goodbye as if they were no more than polite strangers.
He walked home in a dark mood. Maybe that was all they were, he thought. Polite strangers. He’s spent so much time away from people or hunting down outlaws that, if he ever thought he knew anything about women, he’d forgotten where the lines should be drawn.
They’d been friends enough to eat together today, and they’d certainly been friendly last night, but she didn’t seem to want more. He on the other hand would like to be much better friends, and daylight or dark didn’t matter to him.
The day had worn on his leg. By the time he made it back to the Bailey home, pain throbbed with every heartbeat. Sage lifted Duck from his arm and put the boy to sleep. She didn’t ask why they’d been out so late; she was far more interested in telling him about all the important and interesting people she’d met at the church lunch.
Travis sat by the fire and stretched his leg out. By the time Sage wound down and went to bed, his muscles had eased enough for him to bend his leg without feeling a shooting pain.
He knew he should look over notes before the questioning tomorrow, but he watched the fire and thought of Rainey. They’d talked easily at dinner. She’d admitted she made the pies and told him how she found a way to support herself. She talked of a woman named Pearl and her husband Owen, but she never mentioned her past. When he’d asked if her mother taught her to cook, she’d simply said, “No.”
He leaned back in his chair and decided that if they were destined to be just friends, so be it. It appeared neither of them wanted what most people seem to want and need. Maybe marriage and a family weren’t for the likes of them.
When he moved to his desk by the window, he thought of her laugh and smiled. He liked the way she laughed. In truth he liked everything about her. He even liked the way her fingers held tightly to his arm as they walked.
Closing his eyes, he realized the need for her was strong. A hunger just to be near her ached inside him, and somewhere, some time, he knew it would have to be satisfied. He also knew, deep inside on a level where there are no words, that she felt the same. And somehow that feeling, that need, had nothing to do with being just friends.
CHAPTER 22
RAINEY CURLED BENEATH HER COVERS AND SMILED. She’d enjoyed the evening. Travis wasn’t a man who talked much, but he seemed to have made an effort at dinner, telling about his plans for the future. Now and then his questions had been too direct about her past and she ignored them, but he didn’t seem to mind.
He told her about the time when he’d been a boy and his brothers had ridden the ranch borders firing at anyone who rode onto their land. He’d laughed saying that he’d been such a poor shot then that it would have been a miracle if he’d hit anything, but those trying to invade their property didn’t know. He said they’d only been twelve, ten, and six, but the three had formed a bond that year. They had become men.
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